Wednesday, December 6, 2017

There'll always be an England

This is the Nova Building, a new monstrosity by Victoria Station. At first glance, I assumed it was still under construction and that the red was some kind of tarp, but upon closer inspection I realized that the building was in fact finished and occupied, and that it apparently, if improbably, looked like that on purpose.

I am not the only one who feels this way, as I learned when Googling “ugly red building near Victoria Station” to find out more about it. Its sheer awfulness has not gone unnoticed, and this being England, the commentary has been delightfully snarky. The phrase “hideous mess” turns up repeatedly; The Guardian called it a “particularly obnoxious 90-metre argyle sweater.”

The best description came from the judges at Building Design magazine, which awarded it the 2017 Carbuncle Cup as the ugliest building in the UK for its “bright red prows that adorn various points of the exterior like the inflamed protruding breasts of demented preening cockerels.”